Official: Afghan soldier sentenced to death for killing 4 French troops

KABUL - An Afghan soldier has been sentenced to death for killing four French soldiers during a joint training and operation earlier this year in eastern Afghanistan.

Afghan Ministry of Defence Spokesman Zahir Azimi says a military court in Kabul on Monday ordered the solider, Abdul Sabor, to be hanged. The sentence can be appealed. It is unclear when the soldier was convicted of the crime.

The four French soldiers were killed on Jan. 20 in Tagab district of Kapisa province. A month earlier, another Afghan soldier killed two members of the French Foreign Legion on Dec. 29, 2011.

The French casualties prompted France's new President Francois Hollande to withdraw combat forces from Afghanistan earlier than planned. The U.S.-led military coalition is not ending its combat mission until the end of 2014.